Monkey Brand soap was introduced in the 1880s in cake/bar form in the United States and United Kingdom as a household scouring and polishing soap.
History
Initially, Benjamin Brooke & Co Ltd, a firm owned by Sidney and Henry Gross, had produced the soap in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. The soap's highly abrasive agent was probably pumice.
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...
bought the company in January 1899 and transferred the production of Monkey Brand soap to
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...
near
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. The name ‘Benjamin Brooke’ (hence Brooke's Monkey Brand) was retained to promote the Monkey Brand soap on both sides of the Atlantic.
In
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
's ''
Pygmalion'' and the musical based on it (''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...
''), Henry Higgins tells his housekeeper to take
Eliza Doolittle
Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play '' Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''.
Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower seller, who comes to Prof ...
upstairs and clean her up, and to use "...Monkey Brand, if it won't come off any other way" (Act II). In the movie version, the line is changed to "...sandpaper, if it won't come off any other way." In
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...
's 1912 novel ''
The Tale of Mr Tod'', Mr Tod mentioned Monkey Soap as one of the soaps needed for cleaning his bedding.
The advertising campaign for Monkey Brand soap was used by cultural historians for analyzing Victorian values and social attitudes at the intersection of race, gender and class.
[ McClintock, Anne and George Robertson]
Soft-soaping empire: Commodity racism and imperial advertising
I
''Travellers' Tales: Narratives of Home and Displacement''
(1994) edited by Jon Bird, Barry Curtis, Melinda Mash, Tim Putnam, George Robertson, and Lisa Tickner. London: Routledge.
Brooke's Monkey Brand Soap advert.jpg
Brooke's Monkey Brand soap won't wash clothes trade card (front).jpg
Brooke's Monkey Brand soap won't wash clothes trade card (back).jpg
Advert for 'Brooke's soap' (front) Wellcome L0030375.jpg
Paris in London - 1902, Earl's Court - official guide and catalogue - director general Imre Kiralfy (1902) (14582835630).jpg
Monkey Brand soap advertisement.jpg
See also
*
List of cleaning products
This is a list of cleaning products and agents. Cleaning agents are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include hea ...
References
Further reading
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External links
*
Advert For Brooke's Monkey Brand Soap ''The British Library''
History of Benjamin Brooke & Company* Phil Beard
May 22, 2008
Cleaning products
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